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Abstract:

A presentation content management and creation system (10) comprises a
database (30) of sorted media components coupled to be in communication
with a controller (50) for scheduling and rendering media components
selected from the database into a real time media presentation. At least
one output device (14) is coupled to be in communication with the
controller for outputting the real time media presentation and the
controller renders the selected media components as the real time
presentation is being communicated to the at least one output device.

Claims:

1. A presentation content management and creation system comprising: a
database of sorted media components; a controller coupled to be in
communication with the database for scheduling and rendering media
components selected from the database into a real time media
presentation; at least one output device coupled to be in communication
with the controller for outputting the real time media presentation;
wherein in response to one or more inputs to the controller, one or more
attributes of the one or more selected media components scheduled for
presentation is modified as the real time media presentation is displayed
by the at least one output device.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an administrator module
coupled to be in communication with the database and the controller.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the database, the controller and the
administrator module are coupled to be in communication in a store
control unit.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the media components selected from the
database include at least one of the following: a static media component,
a dynamic media component.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein a dynamic media component is selected
when a change in the real time presentation is required.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one attribute of at least one
of the dynamic media components is determined by the controller.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a customer demographic
database coupled to be in communication with a user interface device and
the database of sorted media components.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the user interface device also
functions as the at least one output device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the media components
in the database of sorted media components are provided by entertainment
media content providers.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein in response to one or more selections
made by a user via the user interface, the real time media presentation
is communicated to the at least one output device.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more selections made by the
user include selecting whether or not advertisements are to be included
in the real time media presentation.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein if advertisements are to be included
in the real time media presentation, the advertisements are selected by
the controller on the basis of data relating to the user stored in the
customer demographic database.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said advertisements are selected from
an advertisement database coupled to be in communication with the
controller.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the media components scheduled and/or
rendered by the controller are determined at least partially in response
to signals detected by one or more of the following devices coupled to be
in communication with the controller: an image capturing device, a motion
sensor, a sensitive/voice activated screen.

16. A controller for a presentation content management and creation
system, said controller comprising: a scheduler module for selecting
media components from a database of sorted media components and creating
a play-list of scheduled media components; and a renderer module for
rendering the scheduled media components into a real time media
presentation displayed by at least one output device coupled to be in
communication with the controller; wherein, in response to one or more
inputs to the controller, one or more attributes of the one or more
selected media components scheduled for presentation is modified as the
real time media presentation is displayed by the at least one output
device.

17. The controller of claim 16, wherein the scheduler module randomly
selects media components from the database of sorted media components via
a list of media components stored in the controller.

18. The controller of claim 16, wherein the media components are sorted
at least by a media category required in the presentation.

19. The controller of claim 16, wherein the scheduler separates the
scheduled media components into dynamic components and static components.

20. The controller of claim 19, wherein the dynamic components, if
required, are selected according to one or more identifying parameters
specified for said dynamic components.

21. The controller of claim 16, wherein the renderer module separates the
components constituting the scheduled media into dynamic components and
static components.

22. The controller of claim 21, wherein the renderer module reselects at
least one of the dynamic components when a change in the real-time
presentation is required.

23. The controller of claim 21, wherein the renderer module combines the
static components and the dynamic components in the real-time
presentation.

24. The controller of claim 16, wherein the sorted media components are
sorted by a media subcategory required in the presentation.

25. The controller of claim 16, wherein the renderer module changes the
presentation of a media component due to one or more of the following: an
internal input, an external input.

27. A method of creating and presenting a presentation including:
selecting media components from a database of sorted media components;
creating a play-list of scheduled media components; rendering the
scheduled media components into a real time media presentation as the
real time presentation is displayed by at least one output device; and
modifying, in response to one or more inputs to a controller, one or more
attributes of the one or more selected media components scheduled for
presentation as the real time media presentation is displayed by the at
least one output device.

28. The method of claim 27, further including separating the media
components constituting the scheduled media into dynamic components and
static components.

29. The method of claim 28, further including changing at least one of
the dynamic components when a change in the real time media presentation
is required.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein changing at least one of the dynamic
components includes: determining a type and at least one parameter of the
at least one dynamic component that requires changing; and selecting a
replacement component from at least one component list according to the
parameters.

31. The method of claim 28, further including combining the static
components and the dynamic components in the real-time media
presentation.

32. The method of claim 27, further including recording details of the
media components for auditing purposes once displayed in the real time
media presentation.

Description:

[0002] Presentations such as advertising are a ubiquitous feature of
modern life and efforts are continually being made to devise improved
methods of effective presentation and in particular advertising. One
commonplace form of advertising found in, for example, retail outlets,
trade shows and the like comprises a display, such as a CRT or LCD
screen, coupled to a computer terminal or playback device, such as VCR or
DVD player, which displays images and plays audio to typically promote
products and/or services.

[0003] A more sophisticated system is disclosed in United States Patent
Application Publication No. US 2003/0191688 in the name of Prince et al.
The disclosed system, method and storage device comprises a commercial
display services application having a user interface that allows users to
select and program advertising content from databases of diverse media
formats such as audio-video advertising content, static advertising
content and audio-clip content. This system therefore allows users to
tailor the content of the advertising to particular customers.

[0004] However, one drawback of both of the aforementioned advertising
systems is that the advertisements are pre-produced, they are presented
in a fixed series or sequence and are continuously repeated, for example,
throughout the day in a looped arrangement. Research has demonstrated
that repeated exposure to the same advertisements can result in potential
customers "tuning out" the advertisements. Additionally, employees are
exposed to the repeated advertisements for hours, days and even weeks,
which provides for an undesirable work environment. Although employees
can look away from the display, the audio is usually unavoidable, which
can result in the volume being reduced by employees thus deteriorating
the effectiveness of the advertising on the potential customers. The
negative effect on the employees can also be transferred to the potential
customers, which can impact negatively on sales.

[0005] Another system for delivering advertising content and other
information is disclosed in WO 00/057308 assigned to Frankel and Company.
Template multimedia presentations are assembled at a central location for
a plurality of remote sites. The template multimedia presentations are
transmitted to the remote sites over a wide area network, Internet or the
like, and are stored on players at their respective sites. The players
automatically access an enterprise database to retrieve data useful for
modification of the template multimedia presentation into a site-specific
multimedia presentation, preferably at predetermined intervals. The
result is a site-specific multimedia presentation incorporating changing
enterprise data. Whilst this system provides improved efficiency in the
distribution and presentation of advertisements, flexibility is limited
because the site-specific multimedia presentations can only be
modifications of the template multimedia presentation.

[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 6,526,411 in the name of Ward discloses a system and
method for creating dynamic play lists that allow for the dynamic
addition and subtraction of play list items. The system and method takes
into consideration user preferences, user behaviour and the availability
of new content. The system maintains a database of linkages between
elements associated with content items as well as weighted linkages
between elements and respective properties. When a new item is inserted
into the database, the new item shares preference weights and a number of
preferences associated with items pre-existing in the database. Whilst
this system and method enables users to experience new items that
correlate with the specified user preferences or other bases for framing
an initial input list that otherwise might not have been considered, the
system and method only deals with such factors when a player of the
system is presenting pre-produced and deployed content. Consequently, the
play lists disclosed in this patent are only dynamic in the sense that
new, discrete items of pre-produced content can be inserted in the play
list.

[0007] US 2002/0138641 also discloses the concept of the dynamic play list
and has the objective of a system for a media producer to dynamically
string media clips together while reducing or eliminating delays between
media clips. A system and method are disclosed in which a dummy play list
is created that causes a media player to request media clips from a proxy
server. The proxy server dynamically determines where to redirect the
requests resulting in the dynamic arrangement of the sequence of media
clips to be played. Therefore, the benefits of this system and method are
also limited because they can only deal with how such choices could be
made dynamically when the player is presenting pre-produced and deployed
content. Furthermore, this system and method are directed exclusively to
streamed media content and a variety of streaming media players.

[0008] Similarly, a system for electronically distributing, displaying and
controlling advertising and other communicative media disclosed in WO
01/078273 is also limited to only varying a schedule of discrete,
pre-produced items of content. WO 01/078273 discloses a need to vary the
content and its sequencing after it has been deployed. Media content to
be displayed according to a schedule together with dynamic data to be
displayed according to another overlying schedule are mixed in a
scheduler according to logs of user preferences and monitored, formatted
and loaded for display in a scene renderer.

[0009] WO 01/050401 discloses a system and method for distributing and
controlling the output of media in public spaces and discloses the
concept of the dynamic play list, the introduction of local content and
the addition of further content relevant to the consumer. It defines the
output of related media to multiple devices as synchronization or
synchronized delivery. A transient state variable interface module is
disclosed that receives data reflecting transient conditions relevant to
the public space. A logic controller module then dynamically selects
between available media based at least in part on the state of the
transient state variables. This document also has the disadvantage of
being limited to varying pre-produced content.

[0010] Hence, current presentation solutions rely heavily on pre-produced
media components, which limits the flexibility and control of such
solutions because significant changes to the media components are not
possible. In the case of, for example, a video file, all of the control
over the components typically exists when the media is being created in a
program such as Adobe® Premiere®. Therefore when this media is
later played back, the control over each component that made up the video
file is gone. Another disadvantage is that pre-produced media components,
such as video files, tend to be large and therefore take longer to
distribute. The large file size does not allow distribution of the media
to be prompt if such distribution needs to be done across a network, such
as the Internet.

[0011] Hence, there is a need for a system, method and/or apparatus to
address or at least ameliorate one or more of the aforementioned problems
of the prior art or provide a useful commercial alternative.

[0012] In this specification, the terms "comprises", "comprising",
"including" or similar terms are intended to mean a non-exclusive
inclusion, such that a method, system or apparatus that comprises a list
of elements does not include those elements solely, but may well include
other elements not listed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0013] In one form, although it need not be the only or indeed the
broadest form, the invention resides in a presentation content management
and creation system comprising:

[0014] a database of sorted media components;

[0015] a controller coupled to be in communication with the database for
scheduling and rendering media components selected from the database into
a real time media presentation;

[0016] at least one output device coupled to be in communication with the
controller for outputting the real time media presentation;

[0017] wherein the controller renders the selected media components as the
real time presentation is being communicated to the at least one output
device.

[0018] Suitably, the system further comprises an administrator module
coupled to be in communication with the database and the controller.

[0019] The database, the controller and the administrator module may be
coupled to be in communication in a store control unit.

[0020] Preferably, the media components selected from the database include
at least one static media component and/or at least one dynamic media
component.

[0021] The dynamic media component may be selected when a change in the
real time presentation is required.

[0022] Preferably, at least one attribute of at least one of the dynamic
media components is determined by the controller. Examples of attributes
include, but are not limited to: colour, opacity, position, size,
duration, volume, layer order, text size, text style, blend level
transparency or combinations thereof.

[0023] The system may further comprise a customer demographic database
coupled to be in communication with a user interface and the database of
sorted media components. The user interface may also function as the at
least one output device.

[0024] In response to one or more selections made by a user via the user
interface, the real time media presentation is communicated to the at
least one output device.

[0025] The one or more selections made by the user may include selecting
whether or not advertisements are to be included in the real time media
presentation.

[0026] If advertisements are to be included in the real time media
presentation, the advertisements are selected by the controller on the
basis of data relating to the user stored in the customer demographic
database.

[0027] Suitably, the advertisements are selected from an advertisement
database coupled to be in communication with the controller.

[0028] In one embodiment, the media components scheduled and/or rendered
by the controller are determined at least partially in response to
signals detected by one or more of the following devices coupled to be in
communication with the controller: an image capturing device, a motion
sensor, a sensitive/voice activated screen.

[0029] In another form, the invention resides in a controller for a
presentation content management and creation system, said controller
comprising:

[0030] a scheduler module for selecting media components from a database
of sorted media components and creating a play-list of scheduled media
components; and

[0031] a renderer module for rendering the scheduled media components into
a real time media presentation as the real time presentation is being
communicated to at least one output device coupled to be in communication
with the controller.

[0032] The scheduler module may randomly select media components from the
database of sorted media components via a list of media components stored
in the controller.

[0033] Suitably, the media components are sorted at least by a media
category or subcategory required in the presentation.

[0034] Preferably, the scheduler and the renderer module separate the
scheduled media components into dynamic components and static components
and the renderer module combines the static components and the dynamic
components in the real-time presentation.

[0035] Suitably, the dynamic components, if required, are selected
according to one or more identifying parameters specified for the dynamic
components.

[0036] Preferably, the renderer module reselects at least one of the
dynamic components when a change in the real-time presentation is
required.

[0037] The renderer module may change the presentation of a media
component due to an internal input and/or an external input.

[0038] In a further form, the invention resides in a method of creating a
presentation including:

[0041] rendering the scheduled media components into a real time media
presentation as the real time presentation is being communicated to at
least one output device.

[0042] The method may further include separating the media components
constituting the scheduled media into dynamic components and static
components.

[0043] The method may further include changing at least one of the dynamic
components when a change in the real time media presentation is required.

[0044] Changing at least one of the dynamic components may include:

[0045] determining a type and at least one parameter of the at least one
dynamic component that requires changing; and

[0046] selecting a replacement component from at least one component list
according to the parameters.

[0047] Preferably, the method further includes combining the static
components and the dynamic components in the real-time media
presentation.

[0048] The method may further include recording details of the media
components for auditing purposes once displayed in the real time media
presentation.

[0049] Further features of the present invention will become apparent from
the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0050] By way of example only, preferred embodiments of the invention will
be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying
drawings, wherein:

[0051] FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a presentation content
management system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0052] FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of operations of a controller
for the presentation content management system shown in FIG. 1;

[0053] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the steps performed by a scheduler
module of the controller;

[0054] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the steps performed by a renderer
module of the controller;

[0055] FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of a system for a first
application of the present invention;

[0056] FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of the first application of
the present invention; and

[0057] FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of a second application of the
present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0058] Referring to FIG. 1, there is provided a presentation content
management system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention
comprising a store control unit (SCU) 12 coupled to be in communication
with one or more visual and audio output devices 14. The output devices
14 can be, for example, a plasma screen 16, a projector 18 and screen 20,
a CRT 22, a plurality of CRTs 24 coupled to an RF unit 26 and/or a LCD
screen 28, or other forms of visual and audio displays 29.

[0059] The SCU 12 comprises a database 30 of media components 32, such as
audio 34, video, 36, images 38 and text data 40 as well as surface data
42, schedules 44 and administrative data 46. Database 30 is coupled to be
in communication with an administrator module 48, which is coupled to be
in communication with a controller 50. A user 52 can interact with the
SCU 12 via the administrator module 48 via a user interface device which
is linked to the administrator module 48 via the remote control module 54
and/or a point-of-sale (POS) terminal 56. The SCU 12 provides audio
content 55 and video content 57 to the output devices 14. The audio
content 55 can utilise third generation audio coding (AC3) from Dolby
Laboratories delivered via 5.1 channel or stereo. The video content 57
can be presented in anamorphic resolution using DVI, VGA, COMP, HDMI or
RF communications.

[0060] With reference to FIG. 2, the controller 50 comprises a scheduler
module 58 coupled to be in communication with a renderer module 60. The
scheduler module 58 generates a play list 62 of media to be presented
over a predetermined time period and the renderer module 60 presents the
media from the play list.

[0061] Media is defined herein as a collection of one or more components
that can be static (predetermined) 61 or dynamic (selected during
run-time) 63. Media can be the actual media to be presented, such as an
audio video interleave (.avi) file, or media can be a description of one
or more components 32 to be presented. Each media description contains a
category, a subcategory and a time duration/length. A component can be
anything that is applied or presented by the system 10. Examples of
components 32 are audio, graphics, video, text and two- and/or
three-dimensional objects. A dynamic component 63 has a list of
parameters, each of which contains one or more criteria that allow it to
be, or prevent it from being, selected at run-time by the scheduler
module 58. Such parameters can be a time/date range, a genre, an audience
classification and so on.

[0062] The controller 50 maintains a list of media in a media pool 64.
Media listed in the media pool can be filtered by category and/or
subcategory which is integral to the scheduling process. The controller
50 also maintains one or more lists of components 65, grouped by the
component type. For example, there may be an audio component list 66 and
a video component list 68 each of which can be filtered by genre,
audience classification, appropriate time of day or night to run and so
on.

[0063] As the scheduler module 58 generates the play-list 62, the dynamic
components 63 of each media are selected. The dynamic components 63 are
varied according to a set of required parameters that the media
describes. Such required parameters may be, for example, the location of
the system, the time the media is scheduled to play and so on. The
required parameters allow the scheduler module 58 to select an
appropriate component from the component lists 65 for the dynamic
component 63 in the media. An example of this can be media which contains
a dynamic component 63 that is a piece of audio to be played during the
media. This piece of audio could vary according to when the media was
scheduled to play. The audio desired during the day for example can
differ to the audio desired at night. As well as scheduling dynamic
components 63, the scheduler module 58 can vary the presentation of media
caused by an input. An example of this is varying the volume of audio and
video media components during a busier part of the day when the ambient
volume is typically higher.

[0064] Once media has been scheduled it is known as scheduled media 70.
Once the scheduler module 58 has generated a final play-list 62, the
renderer module 60 takes over and begins presenting the scheduled media
70. As the scheduled media is played, it is known as real-time media 72.
Once presented 73, details of the media presented are recorded for
auditing and billing purposes 75. Once scheduled media is taken from the
final play-list it can be dynamically adjusted or modified by the
renderer module 60 in response to an internal input 74 and/or an external
input 76. Internal inputs 74 are within the system 10 such as time and
date inputs. For example, if media is played later then expected, the
media can be adjusted to suit the new parameters. External inputs are
external to the system 10 such as the user interface device, examples of
which include a touch screen, an audio/visual sensor or an RFID scanner.
Such internal and/or external inputs can also affect how media or the
schedule is presented. An example of this may be a user triggering a
sensor that increases the volume of the media or causes different media
to be loaded and presented. The scheduled media can be dynamically
adjusted up to 30 times per second within a time line of the presentation
to provide an unprecedented level of flexibility in media presentation.

[0065] The scheduling process performed by the scheduler module 58 will
now be described in more detail with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
3. In step 100, the scheduling process determines the total amount of
time available. The scheduler module 58 takes the difference between any
predetermined time/date and the current time/date as the total run time.

[0066] In step 110, the details of a category are read and the available
schedule time is divided into a user-specified amount of categories. Each
category is given a weighting (percentage totaling 100%), which
determines how much of the total time that category receives in the
presentation. A category run time is calculated by using the percentage
weight against the total run time, as represented by step 120. The
category weight is added to a running total to ensure the total does not
exceed 100%.

[0067] Within each category, one or more user-specified subcategories are
chosen to distribute the time share of each category. Each subcategory is
read in step 130 and a run time for each subcategory is calculated in
step 140. The rules of each subcategory applied to the category run time
can calculate the amount of time allocated to each subcategory.

[0068] In step 150, the media pool 64, which is the list of all media in
the system 10, is sorted or filtered by category and subcategory to
generate a subcategory list for the relevant sub-category, as represented
by step 160. A new subcategory list will be generated for each
subcategory.

[0069] In step 170, media is randomly selected from the subcategory list.
The media within the subcategory list is randomly selected to fulfil the
time share of each subcategory as evenly as possible to ensure one piece
of media is not played a disproportionate amount of time or the majority
of the time. The randomly selected media from the subcategory list are
added to a subcategory media list, as represented by step 180.

[0070] With reference to step 190, if more time is available to be filled
for that subcategory, further media are picked from the subcategory list.
No more time is available for further media of a particular category when
the subcategory media-list has reached its subcategory run-time.
According to one embodiment, the subcategory run-time is reached when the
total length of all media in the subcategory media-list is greater then
30 seconds less than the subcategory run-time and less than 120 seconds
more than the subcategory run-time. Rules are applied to the randomly
chosen media to ensure one piece of media is not chosen predominantly
over any other.

[0071] If no more time is available, with reference to step 200, if
further subcategories are required, steps 130-190 are repeated. If no
more subcategories are required, the enquiry is made whether further
categories are required in step 210. If so, steps 110-200 are repeated.
If not, the subcategory media lists are combined into an initial media
list, as represented by step 220.

[0072] With reference to step 230, an empty final play-list is created to
store all the final media clips. The final play-list is a schedule of
media that must be played and the times at which it must be played.
Therefore, the first media to be inserted into the final play-list will
have a time-to-play (TTP) that equals the time the scheduler module 58
began scheduling. The second media will have a TTP of when the scheduler
began to schedule plus the length of time of the first media and so on.
As each media is inserted into the final play-list, the TTP of the next
media to be played is determined by adding the TTP and length of the
current media.

[0073] With reference to step 240, the final play-list is filled by
randomly picking media from the initial list, which contains the
appropriate amount of media for each subcategory. Various repeat rules
can be applied at this time. One such rule can be that as media is
randomly chosen from the initial list for the final play-list, a check is
made to ensure this media has not already been scheduled to play in the
previous three media scheduled to play, as represented by step 250. If
the media has been played in any of the previous three media, with
reference to step 260, the media is reinserted into the initial list and
in step 240 media is randomly chosen again from the initial list.

[0074] With reference to step 270, once media has been selected for
insertion into the final play-list at a proposed time to play, the media
is checked for dynamic components. A dynamic component is a part of the
media that is variable and determined at run time. It is determined by
one or more required parameters. These parameters give criteria for
selecting a component to insert into the media. Such parameters may
include, but are not limited to, the proposed time to play, the location
of the system 10, or the output devices 14 thereof, the date a schedule
is being generated and a genre. With reference to steps 280, if the media
contains one or more dynamic components, the scheduler module 58 will
determine the type and the required parameters of each dynamic component
and, with reference to step 290, using the component lists 65 shown in
FIG. 2, the scheduler module 58 will pick one or more appropriate
components to insert.

[0075] In addition to selecting components dynamically at run-time, the
scheduler module 58 can also control the application/presentation of
components based on different parameters. Therefore, the presentation of
media can differ due to, for example, being presented at different times
of the day. Such parameters can include, but are not limited to, the
proposed time to play (TTP), the location of the system 10, or the output
devices 14 thereof, and the date a schedule is being generated. This is
dynamically performed at run-time and can be applied to all media within
the system 10.

[0076] Once media has been inserted into the final play list, as
represented by step 300 in FIG. 3, a check is made against a forced
play-list, as represented by step 310. The forced play-list contains a
list of media which is scheduled to run at an exact time. A check is made
against the forced play-list after media is inserted into the final
play-list to ensure that the media in the forced play-list are played as
close to the specified time as possible. If media in the forced play-list
is due to be played at the current time, the media is removed from the
forced play-list, as represented by step 320, and is inserted in the
final play-list as represented by step 330. If media in the forced
play-list is not due to be played at the current time, the method of the
scheduler module 58 proceeds to step 340.

[0077] With reference to step 340, if more media remains in the initial
list, more media is randomly picked from the initial list in step 240. If
not, once all checks have been made and all required media is inserted
into the final play-list, the final play-list is complete, as represented
by step 350 and, with reference to FIG. 2, it becomes known as scheduled
media 70. This simply means that this media has passed the scheduler
module 58 and has been given a time-to-play.

[0078] With reference to FIG. 2, the rendering process presents scheduled
media 70 from the final play-list 62. Once scheduled media 70 is taken
from the final play-list 62, it is known as real-time media 72. To
present the media, the renderer module 60 first separates all the
individual components and each component is prepared individually for
presentation. As scheduled media is presented, the renderer module 60 has
the opportunity to alter the presentation of components due to one or
more internal inputs 74 and/or one or more external inputs 76, as
described above. After each real-time media 72 is presented, the next is
taken from the final play-list 62.

[0079] The rendering process will now be described in more detail with
reference to the flowchart in FIG. 4. With reference to step 400, the
first step in the rendering process is to begin a timer. This timer
allows the renderer module 60 to keep track of the effects and components
that must be processed. Once a timer is in place, the media can be split
up into its individual components, as represented by step 410. Referring
to step 430, to determine if there are any changes necessary to any
dynamic components in the media, a check is made against all the internal
inputs such as date and time, as represented by step 420. If the current
time is significantly different to the Time-to-Play (TTP) of the
scheduled media, the renderer module 60 can make the necessary
modifications. This is done by first identifying the dynamic components
within the media, as represented by step 440 and the type and required
parameters of the dynamic components, step 450. Once the type and
required parameters are determined, an appropriate replacement component
can be selected from the component list 65, as represented by step 460.
Once this step is complete the media becomes known as real-time media 72.

[0080] At this stage, with reference to step 470, a check is made to
determine if any input has been made that would modify the media that is
currently playing. This input could be in the form of a button being
pressed by a user on a panel to play a particular media. If this occurs,
the current real-time media is paused, the selected media is located, as
represented by step 480. The selected media is loaded and begins to play,
as represented by step 490. Once this media has run completely (unless
interrupted by an internal or external input), the scheduled real-time
media is resumed.

[0081] Effects, transitions and modifications to components are applied
individually. With reference to step 500, if there are components to be
presented, the first step in presenting a component is to apply the
scheduled or default appearance to the component, as represented by step
510. Next, with reference to step 520, all external inputs are checked to
determine if any modification to the appearance of the component is
necessary, step 530. An example where this may be the case is when a
noise cancelling audio sensor determines that the noise level in a
location has risen to a certain level and amplification of a particular
component is necessary. If necessary, the changes to the presentation are
applied, step 540. Finally, any required transitions are applied to the
component before it is presented, as represented by step 550. Such a
transition may be a fade between two components.

[0082] With reference to step 560, each component is presented one after
another and, with reference to step 570, the timer is updated to reflect
the new time until no more components are left to be presented. A check
is made at step 580 to ensure the media has not played through its
pre-determined duration. If the duration of the media as not been
reached, step 470 is re-visited to check for any input that would provoke
a change to the media currently playing and continues until the duration
of the media is reached. When the duration of the media is reached, with
reference to step 590, the next scheduled media is selected from the
final play-list 62 and the process begins again.

[0083] The truly dynamic nature of the combined scheduling and rendering
system of the present invention is evident in its application as a
powerful training aid. Training material can be driven at will by a
presenter/operator bringing to the screen at any time the required
content. Functions available include pause, rewind, replay, skip, fast
forward etc.

[0084] Clearly, the present invention provides a highly flexible system
and method of advertising content management and presentation that
enables a wide range of organisations to promote advertising material in
a large variety of ways in many different environments and scenarios.

[0085] Another application of the present invention is referred to as a
Virtual Sales Person application that enables targeted advertising and
messaging as a direct result of the application of dynamic control being
applied to the components of the media during the scheduling process and
the rendering process described above.

[0086] With reference to FIG. 5, in addition to the store control unit
(SCU) 12 and the visual and audio output devices 14, the system comprises
a customer interface, which, in one embodiment, includes an image capture
device such as video camera 80, and/or a motion sensor, such as a passive
infra-red (PIR) motion detector 82, and/or a sensitive/voice activated
screen 84 coupled to be in communication with the SCU 12 and, according
to one embodiment, coupled to be in communication with the controller 50.

[0087] The media and the components to be used in the media are selected
and controlled dynamically by various events including, but not limited
to, motion detection, sound detection, sound level via noise cancelling,
any user interface, time of day, run time, date, location. All attributes
of components are controlled dynamically including, but not limited to,
the attributes of size, position, transparency level, colour, volume,
opacity. The components are accessed from the store control unit 12 when
instructed by the scheduler module 58 and/or the renderer module 60. The
instructions can be in part or wholly as a result of the play list 62 or
any dynamically generated request at the run-time.

[0088] An example of the virtual sales person is shown in FIG. 6 and the
sequence of events progresses along the time line 90 from left right.
With reference to the "no events" section, when there are no customers in
the vicinity of the video camera 80, motion detector 82 and/or
sensitive/voice activated screen 84, in one embodiment the images are
visible and the audio is at 100%. In this embodiment, an audio video
interleave (.avi) file is employed, but alternatives can be used. In
another embodiment, in the absence of customers being detected, neither
the images nor audio will be active or one or the other can be active if
desired.

[0089] When a customer enters, for example, a store, ("customer enters")
the .avi images are visible and the audio is at 100%. The live feed
relays images captured by the video camera 80, for example of the
customer, and includes the images of the customer in the presentation.
There is a video cross fade for a period of, for example, 5 seconds and
the live feed is visible, but the audio for the live feed is not audible.
Next, as depicted further along the time line 90 in the section "avatar
appears", the avatar (animated 3D component) is made visible and its
associated audio level is set at 70%. The live feed settings remain the
same, but the .avi images are no longer visible and the associated audio
is cross faded over 5 seconds to the 30% level in this embodiment.

[0090] Where the customer interacts with the system ("customer
interacts"), via any of the customer interface elements, such as the
motion sensor 82 or video camera 80, the live feed and .avi settings
remain the same, but the audio associated with the avatar is dropped to
0% and the product being advertised is made visible and its associated
audio level elevated to 70% to attract and engage the customer. Where the
customer remains ("customer remains") as detected by the motion sensor 82
and/or video camera 80, the product logo is made visible along with
associated text, such as a ticker displaying the price, product features,
a discount, bonuses, freebies or the like. Where the customer leaves the
store or moves on to another part of the store ("customer leaves"), the
logo, ticker, product images and audio, avatar data and live feed data
are no longer visible or audible and the original images and audio are
displayed.

[0091] Another application of the present invention is "entertainment on
demand", such as "video on demand". The purpose of this application of
the controller 50, scheduler module 58 and renderer module 60 of the
system 10 is to download and view and/or listen to entertainment content.
With reference to FIG. 7, the system 600 comprises entertainment content
605 sourced from entertainment content providers, an entertainment
content data list 610, a customer demographic database 620, a web based
user interface 630 coupled to be in communication with the database 620,
communication and delivery via cable/high speed internet connection 640
from a cable provider or internet service provider (ISP) coupled to be in
communication with a user (audience) interface device 650. In FIG. 7,
user interface device 650 is depicted as a person computer (PC) including
visual/audio display. However, it should be appreciated that in other
embodiments, user interface device 650 can also be a laptop computer,
personal digital assistant (PDA) or other communication device, such as a
mobile telephone. In other embodiments, user interface device 650 can
also be one or more of the aforementioned output devices 14, such as a
screen coupled to a set top box, hard drive or the like that enables a
user to make selections and view content.

[0092] The user (audience) selects from the entertainment content data
list 610 via the user interface 650. The selection of entertainment is
combined with demographic data from database 620 and matched to
components from an advertisement database 660 depending on an advertising
option selected by the user. If the `No` option 670 is selected by the
user, only non-revenue components can be selected, such as movie
trailers, further download offers, etc. If the `Yes` option 690 is
selected, components are selected from all available advertising
components and matched using demographic info, movie choice and
preferences if indicated by the user. Permission 700 allowing download of
entertainment content is subject to conditions, such as prior payment,
acceptance of advertising content, membership or any other defined
condition such as user age, and is provided to the download site. The
selected media and any components that may be required based on run-time
instructions are assembled by the controller 50, scheduler module 58 and
renderer module 60 and uploaded to the customer device 650. The
entertainment content may be distributed from one of many entertainment
content mirror sites.

[0093] The number of times or number of days that the entertainment can be
accessed is controlled by the controller 50. Each time the entertainment
is viewed, components are reselected dynamically according to rules. For
example, an advertisement run at 9.00 a.m. during entertainment may be a
coffee advertisement and the advertisement run at 8.00 p.m. may be an
alcohol advertisement.

[0094] Dynamic components selected can be subject to predetermined
parameters such as audience classification/actual run-time or any input
during run-time.

[0095] The viewing rule can vary from once to an unlimited number. Under
the unlimited viewing model, new media and components would automatically
download whenever the customer logged on to the web interface 630 and
seamlessly upload ready for the next viewing. All transactions are logged
as proof of purchase to the advertiser.

[0096] This process can be further automated to download particular
content whenever it becomes available always with fresh and relevant
advertising which has already been pre-approved for delivery. This model
of entertainment would therefore rival free-to-air television as an
advertising medium and, in its purest business application, be free to
customers who choose to accept advertising. According to one embodiment,
customers can also choose the advertisement format. For example, all
advertisements could be grouped to run at the start of a programme.
Advertisers could also choose to advertise in conjunction with symbiotic
or complimentary products from other advertisers, which could be
interleaved as desired by the controller 50, scheduler 58 and renderer
60.

[0097] Another application of the present invention is in situations where
it is imperative that changes in conditions or parameters are brought to
the attention of an observer as soon as possible. Examples of such
situations include, but are not limited to, medical and emergency
environments, such as hospitals, plant monitoring, mining environments,
aircraft and air traffic control environments. For example, the present
invention could be utilised for presenting patient critical information,
such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and the like. Under
normal patient conditions, or within acceptable tolerances according to
the patient's condition, age, gender etc., the patient critical
information could be displayed in a particular font and colour with or
without associated audio. In a critical or emergency condition, such as
the patient experiencing cardiac arrest, one or more elements of the
patient critical information could be displayed in a much larger font and
more eye-catching colour to attract the observer's attention as soon as
possible. This change could be accompanied by a very audible change in,
or the introduction of, associated audio. Multiple patients could be
monitored simultaneously via a live feed, each patient having associated
parameters determining how their patient critical information is
displayed. For example, acceptable tolerances of patient critical
information for a toddler are unlikely to be acceptable for an 80
year-old. Similar display varying capabilities would also be of great
value in monitoring conditions of plant machinery and mine sites and in
air traffic control situations, for example, to display aircraft on safe
courses differently from those on a collision course.

[0098] Hence, the systems and methods of the present invention thus
provide a solution to the aforementioned problems of the prior art by
virtue of the controller 50, scheduler module 58 and renderer module 60
of the presentation content management and creation systems and methods.
The disadvantages of the prior art looped systems are avoided because the
present invention dynamically controls the selection, scheduling and
rendering of the media components to avoid the repetition of the prior
art. The present invention can produce a continually varying presentation
where desired and can vary the content according to the required effects,
the environment, such as background noise, interaction from
customers/users and both internal and external interrupts and inputs,
such as those derived from patients/machinery, as described above.
Changes up to 30 times per second within the time line of the
presentation can be performed to modify the presentation to include, for
example, forced play list content, as described above. Because all of the
production or rendering is done as the media is being displayed, this
allows us to completely control and modify all of the attributes, such
as, but limited to, the colour, opacity, position, size, volume, layer
order, font size and style, blend level transparency, etc.) of each media
component, whether that be an image or a text field or any other
component at any time.

[0099] The Video On Demand delivery methods enable targeted advertising
and associated revenue streams as direct result of the application of the
dynamic control of the components of the media during the scheduling and
rendering processes.

[0100] The Virtual Sales Person methods enable targeted advertising and
messaging as a direct result of the application of the dynamic control of
the components of the media during the scheduling and rendering
processes.

[0101] The system and methods described with respect to the scheduler
module 58 and renderer module 60 are designed to allow control of any
available attributes of any available component by way of sensing from
any source an input command. Such input can then be made to vary the
resultant presented media dynamically as it is displayed to the visual
and audio output devices 14 of the system. The extent of control extends
to, but is not limited by, component selection and presentation with
presentation comprising one or more of size, position, colour, font,
duration, opacity, visibility, and volume. Determinations thereof are
continually made regarding these component attributes by the renderer
module 60 and are limited only by the processor in the SCU 12.

[0102] The level of control afforded by the invention gives rise to the
presentation, and in particular, advertising creation and delivery system
which can be accessed by simple web based interfaces. The resultant
dynamic content can not only be tailored to have a unique look and feel,
but also deliver a unique result each time it is viewed. The system is
100% scalable and high video production costs are eliminated.
Furthermore, the file sizes associated with this method of content
production and presentation are reduced to a fraction of the size of a
traditionally produced video file, but deliver the high definition
content required by today's modern screens. The present invention allows
media to be a composition of many smaller components, such as images,
text fields, audio files, etc., which significantly reduce the overall
size of the media. This file size compared to play time is completely
disproportionate by current standards. For example, a 30s advertisement
can occupy a mere 1 MB in the present invention. This brings another
clear advantage when, for example, a presentation is delivered by
broadband to a consumer's home. Downloaded content begins playing
immediately and because further content can be downloaded during this
play time, the resultant delivery can be seamless.

[0103] The control of the rendering process via timelines that interact
dynamically with the schedule allows the same level of control available
from current DVD players. Skip, Skip to, Repeat, Fast Forward, Rewind,
Pause, Freeze, Picture-in-Picture (PIP) are all functions of control of
display attributes of content components and as such can be made
available at all times to the viewer. This level of functionality further
allows the user to drill down and request further information as a result
of an onscreen prompt in the form of a message, offer or the like. The
auditing and reporting available allows for advertisers to be billed only
after the content has been viewed and for their advertisement to be only
offered to their desired demographic. The advertiser can be billed at
differing rates based on, for example, the degree of demographic match
achieved or the varying levels of interactivity.

[0104] Alternatively viewers can choose to accept advertising only from
categories and companies of their choice. Advertising can be democratised
and made affordable to the point that the local trader may compete
equally with multinational companies for the viewers attention while
still ensuring a revenue stream appropriate to the content which is at
least equal to, but may under this system due to market demands be
greater than that currently developed by free to air television.

[0105] The invention can also be applied across many differing platforms,
such as IP telephony networks, Mobile 3G networks and viewed on desk top
Video phones, handheld devices and the like.

[0106] Throughout the specification the aim has been to describe the
invention without limiting the invention to any one embodiment or
specific collection of features. Persons skilled in the relevant art may
realize variations from the specific embodiments that will nonetheless
fall within the scope of the invention.